Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new docuseries that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and numerous performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
